Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

Set a reminder

Please or to access all these features

Potty training

Is your child ready for potty training at nursery? Here's the place for all your toilet training questions.

Twins, 4 months in, virtually no progress - help please!

29 replies

WhatTheWhat · 18/01/2014 08:51

Hello,
we have 28m old twin boys and we started potty training shortly before their 2nd birthday. One was occasionally doing wees on the potty at that point and the other was asking to do poos (once or twice). We had potties around as their older sister was still using them.
Since then, there has been virtually no progress, they're frequently wet, have never without prompting gone to the potty on their own and they do almost all of their poos in their pants.
We started a reward scheme: poo in potty means chocolate coin, but even this only works if you spot the signs of needing to go and put them on the potty yourself.
They are physically capable and can decide when to wee: as long as we put them on the potty regularly, they will do their wees in there. If there's a chocolate coin on offer, they will sometimes do a small poo in the potty, but the 'main job' mostly goes into the pants.
I have done some reading, and wanted to know whether it's really worth (for example) cutting up nappies (they have not been in nappies for months) so that they can do their poos onto them in the potty, or whether we should just give up and leave it until they're 3 or whenever.
With three small kids in the house, it is very difficult to do 'watch like a hawk' training and we're getting sick of the constant dirty clothing.
We had them in pull up for holiday, which lifted the burden of washing clothes, and didn't really make much of a difference to whether they'd wee or poo on the potty. What pull-ups did was make us lazy about taking them to the potty, so we're thinking they're not a good solution.
Help please...
We don't want to give up, but it's wearing rather thin after 4 months of washing several (twins, don't forget) yucky sets of clothing each day.
Thanks.

OP posts:
Are your children’s vaccines up to date?
WaitMonkey · 19/01/2014 11:33

They aren't ready. Put them back in nappies and wait. Everyone will be happier and it will be so much easier.

SpockSmashesScissors · 19/01/2014 11:47

They're not ready, put them in the pull up type nappies, not the training pant sort, then the option to use the toilet is there if they want to, but if they don't ask then leave it.

I used to sit mine on the toilet at bath time or just before we went out from about 2 1/2, didn't confuse them.

Then when they are nearer 3 go for it with pants, you won't confuse them or go backwards if they weren't ready anyway.

Make life easier for all of you, if you have an older child you know it should only take a few weeks at most when they are ready.

Misfitless · 19/01/2014 17:21

I one is ready, OP. I think possibly the last two posters haven't read the whole thread.

WhispersOfWickedness · 19/01/2014 18:48

I agree with missfit, I think the one who was holding in is ready. It is unfair to make him use nappies if that's obviously making him uncomfortable. You could use pull ups and so easy to pull down for wees but not a disaster if he poos as well. Lots of children take a bit longer to master pooing as well as weeing, or the other way round. I also don't think it's a bad thing for them to see themselves doing things separately. If the twin who is not ready is not impressed with his brother not having nappies when he does have them, it might encourage him to want to give it a go too Smile

New posts on this thread. Refresh page